Oven door



Jan. 16, 1934. c L, BEVERLY OVEN DOOR Filed July '7, 1932 Patented Jan. 16, 1934 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to doors designed primarily for use in connection with portable bake ovens and cook stoves. I

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel form of hinge for the door whereby the 'door will be held both closed and open by gravity, said door, when brought to open position, being horizontal and flush with the bottom of the *OVGH.

Another object is to so mount the door as to allow the use of a perfectly flat plate forming the top of the-door when open, so that pans and plates can slide onto and off the open door without difficulty.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of an oven structure equipped with doors constituting 1 0 the present invention, parts being broken away.

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2, Figure 1, one of the doors being shown in open position and the other being shown closed.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of one of the doors 'removed from its supports.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates a portion of the structure of the oven provided in the present instance with superposed compartments 2 each of which is adapted to be closed at the front by a door such as constitutes the present invention.

Each door D is preferably formed of sheet metal attached to side castings 3 and providing a flat inner surface 4, the outer surface 5 being of any 5 14.5 desired configuration. The door is formed at its upper and lower edges with flanges 6 and 7 which aline with the inner flat surface 4 so that when the door is swung to open position, as in Figure 2, said inner surface 4 will lie horizontally and 5550 will be flush with the bottom 8 of the adjacent compartment 2. In other words the open door will constitute an extension shelf flush with the bottom 8.

On each casting 3 is formed a segmental block 9 which is embraced by a bracket 10 having a semicircular socket 11 in which the block 9 extends. The arcuate wall of the socket 11 is formed with a notch 12 between its ends providing a shoulder 13 and brackets 10 and blocks 9 are so proportioned that when the door D is fully closed the lower corner portions 14 of the blocks 9 will be seated in notches 12 so as to rest on the shoulders 13. These shoulders thus become the fulcrums about which the blocks 9 tend to swing downwardly and as the center of gravity of the door is thus maintained inwardly from the shoulders 13 it will be obvious that the door will be maintained by gravity in closed position tightly pressed against the structure 1v so as to close the compartment 2 back of the door.

When the door is closed its lower flange 6 is located where it can be lapped by the upper flange 7 of the next door thereunder.

Each of the doors has a handle 15 extending therefrom whereby the door can be manipulated readily.

When it is desired to open a door the handle 15 is pulled outwardly away from the oven. This causes the arcuate edges of the blocks 9 to roll upon the adjacent arcuate walls of sockets 11, ,80 causing the corner portions 14 to swing inwardly off the shoulders 13. At this time the arcuate blocks are brought to positions where they press snugly against the arcuate walls of sockets 11 so that they can slide downwardly therealong until ,85 the blocks are brought against those portions of the structure 1 forming the inner or straight walls of sockets 11. When the blocks are thus located, as shown at the bottom of Figure 2, the door is supported horizontally with its surface 4 I extending close to and flush with the bottom 8 of compartment 2 so that the door can thus be used as an extension shelf for the bottom.

Obviously when the door is swung to open position its lower flange 6 will be swung upwardly and T forwardly so as to move away from the next flange '7 thereunder. This will be apparent by referring to the lower portion of Figure 2.

When the door is to be closed the foregoing operation is reversed. As the door is swung upwardly the arcuate walls of socket 11 form tracks for the arcuate edges of blocks 9 until the corners 14 arrive opposite the notches 12. As the center of gravity of the door has at that time passed inwardly toward the structure 1 the corner por- '105 tions 14 will promptly shift into notches 12 so as to engage the shoulders 13 whereupon said shoulders again become the fulcrums of the door and cause the door to be held closed by gravity.

While this door has been shown and described 410 for use more especially with ovens, it is to be understood that it can be employed in any structure requiring doors adapted to be held by gravity in both open and closed positions and which, when opened, will lie flush with the bottom of the coinpartment closed by the door.

An especial advantage resulting from mounting the door D in the manner herein disclosed resides in the fact that the plate forming the top of the door when open can be made perfectly flat. Heretofore in order to allow the doors to lap when closed it has been necessary to incline the inner or bottom edge portion of each door and this has formed an obstruction, when the door has been open, which interfered with the sliding movement of the plates and pans.

In the present structure the castings are the only parts which strike the front of the stove and although the doors will lap when closed, they will not strike each other.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a structure having a compartment, of brackets secured to the structure each having a segmental socket, the arcuate wall of which is provided, between its ends, with a notch forming a shoulder, a door projecting between the brackets, and segmental members secured to the door and mounted within the sockets for sliding engagement with the arcuate walls thereof, said members being shiftable into the notches to bear downwardly thereon and support the door out of line with the center of gravity, thereby to maintain the door pressed against the structure to close the compartment.

2. The combination with a structure having a compartment and a door for closing the same, of brackets secured to the structure having segmental sockets, a shoulder in the arcuate wall of each socket above the bottom thereof, and means carried by the door and slidable upwardly along the walls of the sockets by the swinging of the door to closed position, thereby to engage the shoulders at points out of line with the center of gravity of the door and maintain the door pressed against the structure to close the compartment.

3. The combination with a structure having superposed compartments therein and doors for closing the respective compartments, said doors having flanges at their upper and lower edges, of brackets secured to the structure and having segmental recesses, a shoulder in the arcuate wall of each recess, and means carried by each door and slidable within the adjacent sockets for engagement with the shoulders to hold the door by gravity in closed position and into engagement with the structure to hold the door by gravity in open position, the bottom flange of each door, when closed, being lapped by the flange of the next door thereunder when closed.

4. A structure of the class described including superposed doors each having a flat plate constituting the top of the door when open, and means for supporting the doors for movement into upstanding positions with their fiat plates in lapping relation.

CLARK L. BEVERLY. 

